Art « Epheriell Designs

A Floral Interlude ~ Floriade, Otherwise Known as Tulipalooza

Before we begin our journey through Floriade – otherwise known as ‘Tulipalooza’ – are you sitting comfortably? Do you have a warm/cold beverage of choice?

Have I distracted you long enough to let alllll the pretty photos load? Probably not, but let’s press on.

This weekend just gone I was lucky enough to have my now-annual Dream Date with my bestie Manda. We’ve been friends since 1994, but have lived in different cities for most of this time, which means we only occasionally see each other in person. This year we decided to institute the yearly Dream Date – a couple of days of girl-time doing lady-things once a year – so we don’t go too long without seeing each other.

Most of our Dream Date took place in Sydney (watch this space for a post on that, including the insane amount of gorgeous vintage I bought in Newtown… cough, cough), but Manda lives in Canberra, so I flew in there so we could road-trip it up to Sydney in her tiny tiny smart car.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, the spectacular spring festival of flowers known as Floriade is on at the moment in Canberra. Floriade is something I’ve always wanted to see, but totally didn’t think about this time round, as we were planning to spend all our time in Sydney. Thankfully, Amanda told me it was on, so I had the absolute joy of seeing THE most tulips I have EVER seen in my life.

Tulips are my absolute favourite flowers (my bridal bouquet was a simple bunch of cream tulips, and, really, being half-Dutch it’s not like I have a choice in this, it’s obviously a genetic thing) so I was blown away by all the colours and styles of flower at Floriade.

This was Amanda’s view of me for most of the afternoon, I think…

I took squillions of pictures, and had an awful time trying to decide which ones to show you… so here are, well, most of them.

Also – please enjoy the comic relief at the end of the post. Includes free duckface.

P.S. Manda writes THE most hilarious sewing blog you’ll ever read. Truly. Go check it out.

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10 Creative Crowd-Funded Projects

Crowd-funding is a growing way for small businesses to get their idea or project out of their head and into reality.

Supporting these sorts of projects is not only fun, but you’re helping someone achieve their dream (and hey, you usually get something pretty groovy out of it, too!).

Here’s a list of 10 creative crowd-funded projects that I found today – maybe you’ll find something you’d like to support!

Horsefeathers Frivolities – a soap company focussed on creating natural, cold-process soap for those with sensitive skin. The lowest pledge starts you off with one bar of soap!

Tickle the Imagination is an Australian digital art, craft and design mag. They’re raising money to produce a once-yearly ‘yearbook’ issue. If you like it on-screen, you might consider supporting a printed version!

These are the gals behind Hey Maker – a co-op that plans to open a creative retail space in the lovely little town in Murwillumbah. Help them realise their dream and create a space for Northern NSW creatives to hang!

Okay, these are possibly the coolest headphones ever (and a little bit steampunk too, yes?). Made to produce a concert-like quality of sound and last a lifetime – from the California Headphone Company.

Do you love to use indie yarn? This is a project to create a book called Knitting for Indie Dyers – full of projects created specifically to use with unique indie dyed yarns.

So… what does this look like to you? Uh huh… crystal bacon?! Get yourself a piece…

This one was brought to my attention by a friend of mine, who is part of the Upatree Arts Cooperative. They make amazing, huge puppets for festivals and outdoor events. Help them make a rainbow serpent/feather dragon, an egret, a black cockatoo and more puppets to liven up festivals in the Greater Brisbane region.

I love the idea of these shoes – they’re ‘barefoot’ shoes that protect your feet while still allowing them the freedom to spread out naturally (as one who is very rarely found in enclosed shoes, I am all for barefooting!). They’re the ANI (as nature intended) shoes.

Saving Saber is a plan for one woman to trek across the Australian outback with her camels. She’s using this as an opportunity to train her rescued camel – Saber – as well as dream up some new designs for her clothing label. Probably the most out-there project I saw today!

This Place is Yours is “a not-for-profit media project and arts organisation that will use the power of language, technology and storytelling to connect communities, open societies and create happier human beings.

If you pledge your support to this project, you are becoming part of a movement to dig a little deeper and have conversations that matter, all in the name of mental health, social inclusion & social change.” Sounds pretty good to me!

Have you ever supported (or run) a crowd-funded project?

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Can you help give cancer patients a warm head and a warm heart this winter? Please check out the#100BeanieDrive! I’m off to the hospital today to deliver the very first donations!

The Working Proof ~ Art with a Conscience

Deer by OSoo

What if you could buy really beautiful art, and know that a percentage of every purchase was going towards a fabulous charity?

If you visit a little site called The Working Proof, that’s exactly what you can do. It’s art with a conscience.

15% of the sale is donated to a charity of the artist’s choice. It’s things like this that make me wish I was a visual artist, so I could get involved!

(Although, I do actually have 3 charity-related projects happening in the not-too-distant future, and I’m hoping that you can help…)

Have a little peek below at some of the gorgeous art for sale on the site – most of these prints are just $30, so they’re a socially conscience and super-affordable way to spruce up your home. Nice!